Groupon says it raised $500M in financing

By Alejandra Cancino
Posted Dec. 30, 2010 at 1:01 p.m.

Chicago-based Groupon Inc. has raised $500 million in equity financing of the $950 million it hopes to get.

The money came from 33 investors, Groupon said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company it is not disclosing their names, but DealBook reported Wednesday the start-up is negotiating financing commitments with Fidelity Investments, T. Rowe Price and Morgan Stanley.

The company said in filing with the state of Delaware that it intended to sell shares at $31.59 each. Groupon said in the filing that the shares shall automatically be converted into common stock if the company goes public.

That price would value Groupon at between $6.4 billion and $7.8 billion, depending on the number of shares issued, according to VC Experts, a research firm that specializes in providing data on private companies.

Earlier this month, the company turned down a $6 billion buyout offer from Google. The rejection was a milestone in Groupon’s dizzying journey, which in two years has taken the company from a struggling Web site to a tech star with more than 3,000 employees worldwide, a presence in 35 countries and expected annual revenues of at least $500 million this year.

The company was profitable within eight months.

About $345 million will be used to buy back stock from existing shareholders.
Groupon’s financial backers include local investors Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell, venture capital firms such as New Enterprise Associates and Accel Partners, and Russian firm Mail.ru Group, formerly Digital Sky Technologies, which is also an investor in Facebook.

– Reuters contributed to this report.

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2 comments:

  1. reality Dec. 30, 2010 at 7:59 pm

    These idiots are going to be very sorry that they turned down $6,000,000,000 a couple years from now when the company files for bankruptcy.

  2. Nora Dec. 31, 2010 at 1:56 pm

    Groupon is certainly a trend that is here to stay. In our current economy, people are looking everywhere to save a buck, and groupon-like deals are a great way to do it. That’s why it is easy for Groupon to get investments and funding.

    http://www.dailydealpool.com is another aggregator site that offers consumers a way to save with daily deals and sales in their area being e-mailed to them daily.